My inspiration for this Halloween look was a fall fairy prancing home through a damp, leaf-covered forest floor early in the morning after an all-night dance party with her fairy friends.

To really sell the fairy angle better, I even got some elfin ears, but, uh, getting those suckers to peek through when your hair is teased out “to here” and there are leaves and berries all over the place is really hard!

Hey, man. I tried.

My goals for this look were to…

Make my skin look both muddy and shimmery, like I’d been prancing around in wet leaves. I figured that fairies partying all night long in the forest would tend to get a little dirty, but being magical creatures, they’d still retain their elfin glow.

Wear fall leaves in some big-@ss hair

Wear autumnal colors on my eyes

Freak out my neighbors — because that’s how I roll 🙂

It’s weird, but I think that even with the dirty skin, the look still ended up kind of bridal/Victoria’s Secret.

Too bad about the elf ears, because I think they would have taken the look to the next level.

If you’re on the market for Halloween makeup-based ideas, this one was actually pretty easy to achieve, as far as the makeup goes.

The (muddy) skin

Even though I wanted my skin to look dirty, I still started with my regular foundation, MAC Face and Body, to smooth everything out.

The big-@ss hair

Today marked three days since my last shampoo/conditioner session, which I did because I wanted my mop to actually look a little dirty and “lived in.” I think that made it easier to go bigger with the hair.

I also used hot rollers yesterday, so I had some leftover curls.

To lift my roots and boost volume, I applied a dry shampoo to the roots and teased the top layers, then sprayed hairspray all over everything to keep it big.

When that brief moment of pause hits as you’re about to push the “order” button on that sequined, sleeveless black jumpsuit, and you think to yourself, “Really, will I ever have a reason to wear this crazy contraption?!” — IGNORE IT.

No! I said no, as in no. And I meant it. I absolutely, positively forbid you from dressing up as a sexy clown for Halloween.

Okay, fine. Then how about Katy Perry?

Sure! That’ll do! 🙂

I promise — this last-minute costume didn’t start out as another ode to crazy cat ladies, but we all know how Katy luvs teh kittehs.

Doopdadoo, there I was, browsing the aisles at Party City last weekend, when I spotted this blue wig and thought, “Hmm…” One glittery microphone, a sparkly party dress and loads of liner later, badabing, badabang! — Ms. Teenage Dream!

Kinda sorta. I hope.

Katy usually wears some kind of variation on a classic pin-up girl look — cat eyes, bold lips and big lashes — so I took the idea and ran with it.

If you think you might like to try something similar, here are some ideas…

Get catty, MRRROW!!

Cat eye liner can be trÃ¨s tricky if you’ve never done it before. If this is your first time, or if you’re just looking for a new trick to try, grab a liner in dark gray, instead of black. I find that grays are easier to work with because it isn’t as harsh as black.(read more…)

Granted, I wear my crazy cat lady costume 365 days of the year, but for the purpose of a last-minute Halloween costume, I feel like I need to put in a little extra work to truly get the message across. 🙂

To start, I grabbed my bathrobe and pinned a few stuffed cats on it. FYI, you need a minimum of three kitties, because the third cat is the gateway cat. It’s the crucial part of the puzzle that takes you from a mere “casual feline enthusiast” to full-blown CCL.

Then I put my hair up in rollers, put on some crazy, bright and glittery makeup…

Shoot, I wasn’t even planning to dress up at all this year, but Tabs insisted that I throw something on, because he didn’t want to be the only kitty on the block without a dressed up assistant/trick-or-treating companion.

I couldn’t bear the thought of hitting up the costume store, since I knew it was gonna be crazy busy, so I busted a Tim Gunn and tried to “make it work” with what I had around the house.

As far as last-minute Halloween getups go, this MAC artist costume was super easy. I slipped on a black dress, fashioned a homemade tag out of a MAC logo I found online and stuck some brushes behind my ear. I also really, REALLY wanted to sling a black brush belt around my waist (like the ones that MAC artists wear at the counter), but I kinda ran out of time. I wore a gold brush belt from the MAC Wonder Woman collection instead.

SIDE NOTE: If you plan to recreate this costume and have a brush belt sitting around the house, use it! It’ll totally take it to the next level.